Just a short word about Vulcan XH558. She is on the verge of being sold off if the owners haven't found £1million by 6pm on 6th March 2009. She has been rebuilt using HLF money and flew in 2008 quite a number of times. There is a piece about the project in the diary pages of this website. We cannot let another piece of British Heritage be lost, possibly sold to America.

The Heritage Lottery is a non starter. They have looked into it and they will NOT give money for running costs, only for restoration. £525,166 has been pledged so far. We are on the downhill slope towards £1m (or £850,000, depending on which story you believe). Nice article in the Mail On Sunday today and on the online version of the paper.
Robert Bester - Vulcan to the Sky Club Member 11908

At the end of 2007 in a conversation with my very good friend, ACM Sir John Willis - an ex. Vulcan pilot and avid supporter of the 'Vulcan to the Sky' project - he expressed his concerns to me that unless a major sponsor was found (to the tune of £3-4 Million), the longterm prospects were not good.

Sadly, he died quite unexpectedly in early 2008 so was denied the satisfaction of seeing it return to the air that Summer.

As a supporter and contributor to the project, I do very much hope that the shortfall is reached by the March deadline. One does ultimately hope that a major sponsor is found, but the prospects against a worsening economic background do not seem good -----.